Bill Ackman Selling Zoetis, but Other Firms Jumping In

Bill Ackman is said to be preparing to partially withdraw from pet health care company Zoetis where he had waged an activist campaign, but first-quarter portfolios rolling in this month already show several other well-known managers have piled in.

Anonymous sources told The New York Times and Bloomberg that Ackman offered 16.9 million of his Zoetis shares up for sale starting Monday. The sell represented roughly 40% of his total stake of 41, 823, 145 shares.

Ackman’s hedge fund, Pershing Square, foreshadowed its exit April 22 when it announced its representative on the company’s board, William Doyle, would not stand for re-election at the annual meeting. The meeting is scheduled for May 12, three days after Ackman began to dispose of his stake…